Benefit Honoring Joe McPhee, at Ukrainian National Home

On October 1st, Blank Forms will host our second annual benefit, honoring Joe McPhee, a legend of creative music best known for Nation Time, a 1971 album that stands as a defining monument to the civil rights era. With a title that references Amiri Baraka, the record is a tour de force avant-funk workout, featuring infectious call-and-response vocals (“What time is it!?” “Nation time!”) and fiery post-Coltrane grooves that remain in the pocket while reaching for a terrestrial inner cosmos. In a musical milieu often considered difficult, Nation Time, with its passionate ass-shaking accessibility, is a testament to the emancipatory potential of free jazz.

Please join us for an evening of drinks, dinner, and special performances including what, in McPhee’s words, will be “NATION TIME FOR REAL THIS TIME (in the Error of Trump). Not a redo but a reexamination.”